BTG at TASTES OF THE VALLEYS Definitely in the BDX style and not Chinon.  Explosive oak and dark ripe cherry mired in gobs of cassis and chalk.  Layers and layers of sweet, rich BDX fruit and vanilla.  Chalky, sandpaper tannin approaching *blistering*.  Heavy on oak and *dark* layers, light on bright fruit. 13-9  ♦

 BTG side-by-side with the 2012 at TASTES OF THE VALLEYS  Bottled this past week and this was a stained bottle from an accident on the bottling line.  No sign of bottle-shock or closed-in.  Huge floral, lily and crushed dried petals and wet mud where 2012 was all dry minerality and oak.  Lots of wood and more fruit.  ♦♦

 2007 Blackjack Double Down feeling musty and tired.  Still a great drop and a great value, but oh man drink up.  Rich and round with funky notes probably not receiving good marks from Cali-wonks.  No tannin.  ♦

2008 Clos Mimi McGinley Cabernet rich and elegant and perhaps a bit cloying even.  Tannin still vibrant from early on and the whole package balanced in its over-ripeness from start-to-finish.  Yes, you read that right.  Perfectly balanced beginning to end in its over-the-top-ness.  This thing is huge and wonderful.  Understand that.  But plumped up enough to merit drinking in the near-term.  I’m scared where this thing will be in 5 years.  Some oxidation is creeping into the nose and mouthfeel (opinion is mixed on this).  An amazing fabulous wine but just a little over-wrought for its own good.  Self-destruction from amazingness.  I believe in the 14-5 range.   ♦♦

2002 Solaris Napa Valley Cab is still drinking like a distant relative you haven’t seen for many years and turns up at a party 40 years old with a Master’s degree and sexy as all get-out.  Beautiful polish on the nose, layers of dust and dirt and fruit under control.  Mouth-filling throughout and wonderfully polished tannins.  A 25$ wine just drinking phenomenally.  There’s a pedigree hard to put in words which is missing on this compared to Napa Valley cabs three times the price, but oh man is it lovely right NOW.   ♦♦♦

2009  Gabbiano Ch Cl Riserva  Musty and rife with oxidation.  Flabby and uninteresting.  Old-world funk throughout and not the nice kind.  If this were all by itself on a table with rich pasta sauces and meats, I could see how one could *maybe* convince oneself it is lovely and interesting, but not here, not in this crowd, even with rich pizza and fare.  Maderized and downright bad.   ◊